Monday, 24 December 2012

Lucky me got an early Christmas present last week from my new favourite niece GJ! Imagine my surprise when I opened the box (which I thought was one of R's Christmas presents that I had ordered) and in it was something for ME! Could there be anything better suited??? I think not. At a time when one might have a tendency to have a little too much cheer...this will ensure that I maintain a one glass limit.

Sunday, 16 December 2012

I
think I may have put on 10 pounds reading everyone’s lists last week. Just in
time for the upcoming holiday season. Hmmm…may need to revamp my Christmas list
to include more of the “elastic” variety of pants.

Valentine’s Day, Easter, Halloween and of course
Christmas were marked by the airing of a Charlie Brown special when I was
growing up. Pretty sure a lot of the dialogue would not be considered
“politically correct” these days.

School dances were never very successful at my high
school except for the once a year wait for it…Christmas Square Dance. Yup. Square Dance. I know I come across all hip and with it…this just confirms it
right??

Did you know this song was written in 1963? I
always associated the Beach Boys with sun, sand and surfing. Always felt like
they were going to break out into a chorus of My Little Deuce Coupe. What do
you think?

If you only listen to one song in this list, I hope
you take the 3:48 for this version of Michael Buble’s original and one of my
favourite songs. Here is a clip from Michael Buble’s Christmas Special. He
and Blake Shelton performed this duet which they dedicated to all the men and
women serving in the Military. Loved it!

Riley's conversation with Santa went like this:Santa: What would you like for Christmas?Riley: (spoken with R's usual enthusiasm) Frosty the Snowman, Shrek the Halls, Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas and Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas.Santa: I will see what I can do for you.Riley: Yes! (all happy and bouncing back to his seat)We heard all about it over and over AND over all. the. way. home. The magic of Christmas never gets old in Riley World and THAT...is a good thing! :D

Sunday, 9 December 2012

And so the countdown
begins. The house is decorated, the tree is up and Riley is waiting
ever-so-patiently for Christmas. Baahaaahaaa…yea right. As the old Meatloaf song goes Two out of three ain’t
bad right?

I love all things
Christmas! I remember the magic of Santa growing up, playing Blackjack after
Christmas dinner with the adults when we were kids and best of all being able
to eat whatever we wanted and not having to worry about those ummm 5 or
so…wait…who am I kidding here…10+ extra pounds. *sigh*

So in the spirit of
Christmas I am going to take a walk down memory lane with some of my favourite memories of Christmas foods when I was growing up and how things have evolved over the years

1.Pop and Bits & Bites: A treat on
weekends when we were growing up was “a”
as in one pop. However at
Christmas…the pop flowed freely along with the very seasonal Bits & Bites.
Pretzels were the first to go leaving a bowl of undesirable Shreddies. Who even
likes Shreddies... well besides G’s brother?!?

2.Wine and Cheese: Now that I am all grown up…wine
flows freely and I have discovered fancy-schmancy taste treats like brie and my
new found favourite “Applewood Smoked Cheddar”.

3.Icy Cups: Who remembers these foil
wrappers? We used to save them, pound
them flat and make crafts with them. Stores like Michaels did not exist and if you needed popsicle sticks for that log cabin…get licking!

9.Japanese Oranges: If you were really, REALLY
lucky you might find an orange or two in the bottom of your stocking on
Christmas morning. Back when Iwas
growing up mandarin oranges came from Japan, were individually wrapped in green
tissue, were packed in a wooden box and only available at Christmas time (or
that’s how I remember it).

10.Santa Strawberries: Something new for 2012! Saw
these on Pinterest or FB and had to give them a whirl. So cute and pretty darn tasty too! Yes I made these ones.

What do you like to indulge in over the holiday season? Don't forget to head over to our hostess extraordinaire Stasha's place to see what everybody else came up with.

Well
like Stasha, I was in a panic. My very first Listicles topic was “My 10
Superpowers” which I pretty much nailed I mean…where I shared my not-so-hidden
talents. That’s better. Having to come up with even more ways that I am great
was a little too much for this old brain.

Since
I have been *ahem* neglecting my blog
a little lately, I have decided to kill two topics with one post and go with 10
Reasons I am an Awesome Autism Mom! *patting
myself on the back*

1.I
still cut the crusts off Riley’s sandwiches and cut them into quarters. Yes I know he is 18. Need I remind you any visible signs of brown are unacceptable and will result in that quarter or likely the entire sandwich being tossed
in the garbage.

3.The
first time Riley lied to me I was so excited and wanted to high five him! Did I
mention he was around 12? OK slight
exaggeration but not too far off. R is brutally honest and the idea of
intentionally lying in Riley World well...does not really exist.

4.I
answer and ask the same questions over and over and over again. Every. Single.
Day.

7.“If it’s not too late you
will call me?” Whenever
I go out Riley likes me to call him on my way home and pick him up McD’s (medium fries in a
small brown bag and small sprite with no ice please). The reception when I get
home is SO worth the $4.35 every. single. time.

8.I
am constantly offering to buy Riley things because, until recently, he NEVER
asked for anything…EVER. I would even buy the same DVDs over and over and over
again as gifts because that was all R wanted/asked for. You’re welcome Disney.

9.I
am a short order cook and make R a separate dinner pretty much every night.
Thankfully he only has about 3 items on his “menu”.

10.I
am only an awesome autism mom because I have practiced the same things over and over AND over again! Need I say more. Oish.